Ask the Insider columnist Ashley Lutz answers all your
work-related questions, including the awkward, sensitive, and
real-world ones. Have a question? Email
asktheinsider@businessinsider.com.

Dear Insider,

I work in a small office, around 10 employees. There are
four of us in an administrator role in an open office floor
plan. Last year our manager "Linda" hired her daughter "Stacy" to
help out on a temporary basis which turned into a full-time job
when one of the admins was let go.

Stacy is lazy. She watches Netflix or plays puzzles while
she's "working." She constantly calls out "Mom!" all day long
across the room to ask Linda what to do next when we have a task
flow management software that keeps track of our to-do list. She
doesn't check her email. She keeps her headphones in all day and
does not answer the phone.

Her mistakes make us other admins look bad to the owner
and they are constant. Her completed projects are full of
mistakes. She is rude to her mom and argumentative in a teenage
way (she is 20 and lives at home, this is her first professional
job). Any attempts to teach her our processes and about the
office have been rebuffed. It is more like she is Linda's
personal assistant than a team player.

Her mom said to just give her back tasks when they are wrong
but that slows us down during our busy season and sometimes
there are so many mistakes we don't catch them all.
The owner apparently had seen her watching Netflix and
commented to us that he was surprised she could still do
work. That was two months ago and we believe her mom may
have told her to stop, but she still does it.

The other admin and I are stressed and not sure how to bring
this up. We get upset when we constantly
find her mistakes and she takes no initiative to not make them
again. We would be reprimanded if we were on Netflix all
day. Is there a way to bring this up without it seeming like
we are snitching? We would not be allowed to get away with
the things she does. The last admin was let go for
less.

Sincerely,

Covering for my boss' daughter

***

Dear Covering:

The hassle you describe is a reason many big companies have
policies against nepotism. Even if your boss' daughter were the
best admin on the team, it would 0nly be human for others to
feel resentment or wonder if there were overt favoritism at play.

On top of this already-fraught situation, this girl sounds like a
nightmare to work with. Confronting her incompetence would
be difficult to navigate no matter who she was. Now you risk
alienating your boss if you do so.

Because she's the offspring of another employee and not the
owner, the best approach here is to (mostly) behave as you would
if she weren't the offspring of your supervisor.

Office expert Lynn Taylor
recently gave Business Insider some great advice on dealing
with slackers in the office. She says to take the person in
question to lunch and gently explain how their behavior is
affecting the team. You could say something like, "Stacy, you are
great at completing projects quickly. But watching Netflix at
work has become a distraction to the rest of the team."

You should also change the way you deliver feedback. Instead of
simply correcting her mistakes and resenting it, take a bit of
time to explain what she did wrong. If she sends you the report
with the same mistake, tell her you can't accept the work until
it is fixed. If your supervisor wants to know where the report
is, explain what happened.

Separately, I would talk to your supervisor and say something
complimentary about her daughter. Then explain the issues with
her work. Try to keep the language as neutral as possible. Say
something like "Linda, I wanted to give you a heads-up that I
noticed Stacy makes the same three errors on many of her reports
and I have talked to her about it. I also talked to her about
watching Netflix at work because it has become distracting to the
team."

If things don't improve after you've confronted the right people,
I would tactfully have a conversation with the owner. Because he
or she is paying this person, they should know about a toxic
situation affecting productivity.

Ashley Lutz is a senior editor at Business Insider answering
all your questions about the workplace. Send your queries to
asktheinsider@businessinsider.com for publication
on Business Insider. Requests for anonymity will be granted, and
questions may be edited.